Jonathan Goldsmith

Jonathan Goldsmith, aged 52, of Hatch Gate in Whitchurch Hill, was sentenced to 28 years' imprisonment—four of which will be on licence—at Reading Crown Court on May 15 following a three-week trial. He was convicted of seven counts of rape and one count of blackmail after a Thames Valley Police investigation into offences that spanned three regions and nearly 20 years.

Detective Sergeant Rachel Belsher, the investigating officer, praised the courage of the complainants: "I am so grateful to the complainants in this case for the remarkable bravery and courage they have shown. Jonathan Goldsmith is a serial rapist and has finally been held to account for his crimes. He targeted women who he knew to be vulnerable and whom he assumed would never be believed. He was wrong."

The first known offence occurred in 2002, when Goldsmith raped a woman in a parked car in London after threatening her with a knife. Between 2005 and 2019, he repeatedly raped another woman whom he had met in Oxford when she was in her late teens; the abuse continued at her home in Reading, often involving physical violence, and he recorded images and videos of the assaults to blackmail her into silence. In 2014, he raped a woman in her twenties whom he had encountered on a dating website.

Goldsmith was arrested on three separate dates—11 August 2002, 6 December 2014, and 14 April 2021—and was finally charged on 29 January 2026. DS Belsher added: "The complainants have had to persevere in a very long and very invasive investigation and then trial process. I would like to thank these incredible women for making sure that Jonathan Goldsmith cannot hurt any more women."